Luxury eyewear company EssilorLuxottica saw its Q4 revenue rise despite a challenging macroeconomic environment.
The company’s quarterly revenue rose 9.4% to €6.1 billion, with Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) driving growth. Demand was particularly high in France, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and Scandinavia, which resulted in a 6.2% sales growth in the region to €2.09 billion.
“In 2022, we strengthened our open, collaborative business model while completing important acquisitions such as Walman in North America and Shamir in Israel and continuing to invest in quality eyecare and eyewear for the benefit of the entire market,” said Francesco Milleri, chairman and CEO, and Paul du Saillant, deputy CEO at EssilorLuxottica. “At the same time, we continued to showcase our unique innovation capability through new sustainable collections and the ongoing deployment of new lens products and categories.”
While the company registered strong growth in EMEA, business in the Asia-Pacific region grew by only 3.1% to €731 million as sales in China were hit by a significant surge in Covid-cases.
In contrast, its peer Hermès exceeded sales and margin forecasts in the fourth quarter thanks to wealthy shoppers in China. Other luxury groups such as LVMH and Richemont also benefitted from continued demand from wealthy customers even in the face of the rising cost of living, according to Reuters.
EssilorLuxottica plans to raise its dividend to €3.23 per share, a 29% increase over last year.
